Christmas Dress for Jenna's Doll

Christmas Dress, in color, a photo by elizabeth's*whimsies on Flickr.

I sewed this dress for my niece's American Girl Felicity. I used a pattern I purchased on ebay from All Time Fashions. The pattern was easy to use and came out well. I have a bit of trouble photographing these dolls--they're too big for my light box!

I hope you all had a lovely Christmas and holiday season with your families. We had a very relaxing weekend and it was quite nice to see my younger brother for the weekend, as well!

Norah in kid heaven

Norah in kid heaven, a photo by elizabeth's*whimsies on Flickr.

Norah (Heidi Plusczok's Candy 2007) is in kid heaven after receiving these fantastic gifts in a swap on the Plusczok Doll Yahoo Group! She also received two little gingerbread ornaments that are so cute! She loves everything! The sweater's color looks marvelous with her hair and happens to be one of my favorite colors!

Goat Girls at Christmas

Girls in outfits, a photo by elizabeth's*whimsies on Flickr.

These girls are as silly as ever. I plied them with goat treats and photographed them in their outfits. I did make a few videos, too, but will have to upload them later because they take forever to upload. It's been COLD here today; a high of 27 degrees Fahrenheit! I had to finally dump out the ducks' pool. No more swimming till spring for them!

New Etsy Listing

I put one of my entries from the Little Darlings Yahoo Group fashion contest on etsy for sale.  Perhaps your girl needs a Christmas formal outfit?  Or an outfit for a holiday concert?

Emma Hiking

Emma Hiking, a photo by elizabeth's*whimsies on Flickr.

Emma Leigh Addison, walking in the woods last weekend. I made her the little slacks, and the shirt is borrowed from one of my Chrysalis dolls.

Close up because she's pretty:

 

Emma is a 13" Effner vinyl studio Little Darling, painted by Dianna Effner and sold by Everybody Loves Dolls.

Our Thanksgiving and Some New Thrift Shop Finds

Vegan Thanksgiving, a photo by elizabeth's*whimsies on Flickr.

People ask me frequently what vegetarians/vegans eat for Thanksgiving. I made this feast for us. We had pot pie with pumpkin biscuit crust, mashed sweet potatoes, stuffing, cranberry sauce, rolls and roasted green beans. Dessert was apple pie and it was the best! Yummy!


We went thrifting yesterday and I found this gorgeous candy-colored afghan. It's now my craft room afghan!

We also decorated for Christmas. I found this heart garland at the thrift store and it looks great up there with my mistletoe!

Ducks and goats!

Well, around here it has yet to significantly snow, which is good with me.  I can still fill up the ducks' kiddie pools, which they enjoy.  Next summer, I have plans to put in a larger pond for the ducks to swim in, hopefully a large koi pond in which I will install a drain to make my life easier!

 

Hattie and Roger, swimming

Little (Daisy) Duck's children are all grown and the boys are becoming obnoxious.  Anyone want a few ducks?  I have had them listed on Craigslist for a while with no takers.  The two Mallard boys are a bit pushy with all the females.  They and Nathan and possibly Mark are soon to be deported to the goat yard, as soon as I can figure out where to put their food so the goats can't get into it.  They are so beautiful, though, these naughty boys.  Mark has grown into an interesting looking duck and Nathan is very hard to tell apart from his daddy, Roger.  Pearl is a good (but noisy) little girl and can stay with her Moms and Dad.  Mark is the multicolored boy below, Nathan the white with Edward and Pearl behind him, and Charlie is the Mallard colored boy in the lowest picture.

The goats are ridiculous, no matter the season!  They are hard to capture on camera because they don't stay still, so video is the best way!  They are obsessed lately with seeing if I will give them a treat.  They try to find treats in my hands and pockets and also they jump up onto their balance beam, expecting a reward.  Greedy girls! 
 

Anisha in a pretty winter dress

Anisha, full view with embroidered dress, a photo by elizabeth's*whimsies on Flickr.

Sorry for the long blog silence! I finished this dress a few weeks ago but haven't had time to photograph it. Under the dress there is a cute little white petticoat with embroidered purple snowflakes on it.

Fireplace and Wainscot in April Cottage

Fireplace and Wainscot in April Cottage, a photo by elizabeth's*whimsies on Flickr.

This is fiddly work. I bought a new fireplace (unpainted) for April Cottage because I did not like how the paint came out on the one I sculpted. I painted it this morning and finally installed the wainscot and trim on the walls, except for the wall with the door. I need to stain the trim for the door and get that up before I attach the wainscot on that side.

First Snowfall

Snow on Mums, a photo by elizabeth's*whimsies on Flickr.

It's our first snowfall of the year today. We are not expected to get much, but it really drives home that winter will be here very soon! I still have to run an extension cord to the chicken coop for their heated waterer and to the goat house for the same reason. And the duck run roof needs a little reinforcement before heavy snows come. The chickens are spending the day inside their coop on the shelf by the window, looking mournfully outside at the bad weather. I have given them a cabbage suspended from a chain to give them something to keep them busy.  The wild birds are eating much more seed than they have been the last few weeks.  They were very eager for me to fill the hopper this morning and a titmouse took a seed right from my scoop.  The chickadees routinely do that, but this is the first time a titmouse has done that.

Rose Red

Rose Red, a photo by elizabeth's*whimsies on Flickr.

I finally redressed my Boneka Dianna Effner Rose Red. She had been wearing her original outfit for a LONG time. Her dress, in reality, is darker red than it shows in the pictures. The apron is made of a vintage linen handkerchief. I added a line of embroidery along the bottom.

Peak Color

Fall Leaves in Upstate NY, a photo by elizabeth's*whimsies on Flickr.

The view out back is gorgeous! It's all yellows, reds and oranges.

I got Venetian Carnival Olivia by Helen Kish from MDCC's website. She's gorgeous! I made her a new outfit and had some fun drafting patterns to fit the vision I had in my head of what I wanted to make. The first version came out too large and so it is on an Effner Little Darling at the moment. After I get the snaps and slip done for that version, I'll share that, too.

Song and Tamsin

Song and Tamsin, a photo by elizabeth's*whimsies on Flickr.

I found this great bench at the thrift store and realized it would be perfect for the 14" Chrysalis girls. Song and Tamsin volunteered to have their photos done, with Tulah's cat, Toots.

New Sculpture

Adam in Hand, a photo by elizabeth's*whimsies on Flickr.

I was inspired the other day to see if I could still sculpt in dollhouse scale. I made this little guy. He's 2 inches long! He has hand-painted brown eyes, hand-applied blond hair and a hand-made little (non-removable) outfit. He was lots of fun to make! He is jointed at the hips and shoulders. I will probably list him on etsy at some point in the near future but have no idea what 1:12 sculpted babies are going for these days! Better do some research first!

Cleaning the Goat Shed is Great Fun!

These two are endlessly silly.  They thought that cleaning the shed was party time last weekend.  They were tearing around, hopping from their hammock which I placed on the lawn when I was cleaning the shed, to the wheel barrow and then onto the bales of shavings that were to be put into the shed when I was done.  It was so funny!  It was also exhausting!

Autumn Overalls

Effner Girl in Autumn Overalls, a photo by elizabeth's*whimsies on Flickr.

I made these overalls yesterday. I had to wait for today for the light to be good enough to photograph them. The embroidery detail is from Vicki Haninger's book and the pattern for the overalls I modified to fit this doll from one of Rosemary Ionker's patterns.

And here's my inspiration!  The view from my back deck.

Newest Little Darling

IMG_2871, a photo by elizabeth's*whimsies on Flickr.

This is my newest hand-painted Little Darling but I'm not sure what her name is yet! She was painted by Lana Dobbs, to my specifications. She does such beautiful work! I made the smocked dress last weekend.

Nice day for embroidery

I finally finished another block on my State Flowers Quilt!  It's been a while since I had a chance to make a block.  They're so much fun and come out so nicely.  I need to get another one ready to embroider.  The patterns, in case you didn't know, are available free at Turkey Feathers blog by Vicki Haninger.

 

Today was perfect weather for embroidery.  I sat on the deck and made this sachet (pattern from here) as a gift for one of my receptionists at work.  She is so thoughtful and always brings anyone with a birthday a small gift and her birthday is on Wednesday, so I made her a small gift.  I was home today because I got home from a veterinary conference in Boston late on Sunday night.  Today was a catch-up, reorganize and get ready for the week sort of day!

Piper on a late summer day

Piper on a late summer day, a photo by elizabeth's*whimsies on Flickr.

Finally, I had time for the sewing machine! I bought a pattern today from Designs by Jude for some jeans. It also has a turtleneck, but it was too hot here today for turtlenecks, so we put a blouse on Piper and took her photo. The early evening late summer light is a little difficult to photograph in, but Piper is such a pretty doll! Below is a close up, just because.

Anza and Josie are Silly!

Anza and Josie on a beam, a photo by elizabeth's*whimsies on Flickr.

The girls needed some sort of toy to climb on, so we made a makeshift one until we can get them a picnic table or similar. They have a board balanced between two stacks of cement blocks, and they obviously love it. They were yelling at me yesterday morning from this position, and stayed right in position while I got the camera and took a photo!

Sorry about the lack of crafting photos lately. I have had company and have been so busy I haven't had any time for any doll dresses or other craft projects! Hopefully this weekend I can make something fun!

Josie

Josie, a photo by elizabeth's*whimsies on Flickr.

Josie wishes everyone a happy Monday morning!

Tammy by Ideal

Tammy, a photo by elizabeth's*whimsies on Flickr.

My mother had a Tammy doll when she was a kid. I looked them up online a few years ago and thought they were really cute! I have had this one for about 10 years or so. I made her a new dress. She needs shoes very badly, though! She doesn't even have one pair! I also have her little sister, Pepper. Pepper's outfit came with her but is not an Ideal outfit.

Anza and Josie are Home

Anza and Josie in their new pen, a photo by elizabeth's*whimsies on Flickr.

These are my new little girls! They are home and are getting along well. Anza is about 10 weeks old (born June 2) and is the solid cream colored girl and Josie is the buckskin baby and is about 4 months old. They are both absolutely adorable!

Alisha, Hand-Painted by Helen Kish

This is my little Alisha, 8" and all-vinyl, hand-painted by Helen Kish!  She arrived the other day and is so pretty!  I made her a little romper but had to draft the pattern for it myself because I had no patterns exactly right.  It still needs a bit of tweaking to be absolutely perfect but it will do for Alisha's new outfit.

 

A close up of her face to show the painting.  The camera fails to capture that her eyes have a bit of iridescence to them!

The Goat Shed Has Arrived!

Goat House, a photo by elizabeth's*whimsies on Flickr.

The fence goes in on Monday. I'm so excited for my new little pets to arrive!

Duck Pedicure

Duck Pedicure, a photo by elizabeth's*whimsies on Flickr.

Little's (Daisy's) children think that toes are really interesting, and perhaps if they moodle them enough, they might produce some green peas like fingers sometimes do. I started out this drippy Sunday with clean feet! Not so much any more!

 

Little Duck (Daisy) thinks having all these children is exhausting!

 

These little guys are now almost five weeks old and are cute as buttons.  I haven't decided yet whether to give them all away or keep some or all of them!  I might keep some to keep my goats company in the pen on the other side of the yard.  I will decide soon enough.  The two mallard cross ducklings are male and I think all three of the calls are girls.  This call baby has great coloring.  We've been calling her Checkers because her little wing feathers came in first.

Margie and Gitta

Margie and Gitta, a photo by elizabeth's*whimsies on Flickr.

These girls don't get photographed much, but they're so beautiful! They are Margie and Gitta Himstedt. It's a shame that Annette Himstedt is no longer producing dolls, because they are fantastically well-painted, beautifully detailed and just lovely! I need more clothing for them, though!

Charlotta in Liberty of London

Charlotta in Liberty - Full View, a photo by elizabeth's*whimsies on Flickr.

I have been saving this fabric up for a long time! Charlotta needed something handmade, just for her, so I used a small piece of the Liberty lawn to make a dress for her. The waistband is accented by vintage lace and the collar line is embroidered. I plan on making a little crocheted shrug to go with it.

Bye bye, guys!

 

The little set of 4 ducklings (Hattie's babies) have gone to a new home as of yesterday!  Hattie and Roger don't seem to mind a bit.  I was sad to see them go, but they are in good hands and I'm confident they'll have a great life. 

In other news, only about five more weeks till my goats come!  Their shed's site is leveled and ready.  The shed itself should arrive in a few weeks.  I'm eagerly awaiting my new little friends.